Sending your demos to a label: the do's and the don'ts.

May 26, 2023

So, you’re an artist. You’ve sent out a good few demos to labels. But you never get a reply, or even a listen. And this while other artists around you seem to be thriving. Here are 3 do’s and 3 don’ts to think about when sending in your demo. Sincerely, your Storm A&R manager.

Do's

1: DO send a directly streamable link.

Most labels have multiple A&R’s, or a label boss, or both, who need to approve a track before release. It’s a massive hassle to send around single WAV files to each other. We ALL prefer a streamable Dropbox or Soundcloud link.

2: DO attach a relevant subject line to your email.

This sounds like such an obvious call, but the sheer amount of demos I receive that don’t have a subject line with at least the word ‘demo’ in it drive me absolutely crazy. We get sent a lot of spam on these email addresses, and I need to be able to effectively filter the demos from the junk. I get a LOT of emails without any subject line whatsoever as well. Just say (artist name) Demo submission, or something along those lines.

3: DO proof-read your email before you send it.

The sheer amount of demos I get that have a different record label mentioned in the greeting is hilarious. We all know you’re keeping a few options, but this is a very quick way to lose interest from labels.

4: DO only send high quality demos.

We get a lot of demos where the artists aren’t even really sure about the quality. If you aren’t even sure the track is good, why are you sending it to us?

don'ts

1: DON’T send an entire biography with your demo.

We simply don’t care until we’re signing you. If we want to know something we’ll either google you, or ask.

2: DON’T forget to attach links to your socials and streaming services.

Imagine, you’re signed. I’m distributing your track to all different kinds of streaming services. I need to know what your Spotify, Apple Music, Soundcloud, etc is to do this effectively. A lot of artists don’t send it, don’t reply in time when I ask, and then complain that it wound up on the wrong profile. Just prevent this and send it in the first email you’re sending the label.

3: DON’T feel entitled to special treatment, especially with your first demo.

We get a LOT of demo’s every single day. If I were to reply to every single one, I’d never get through all of them. If your demo is good, I will. If your demo is almost there, I might send you some feedback. If you don’t get a reply for over 2 weeks, it has been rejected. If you’ve signed with us before or if we’ve chatted about a release I’ll probably formally let you know. But don’t be that artist that gets pissed off because an A&R didn’t reply. We’re just too busy for that.

4: DON’T delete your track within 14 days after sending it.

We often open your email a few days to a week after you send it. The moment of final approval usually is a week later. Don’t delete your demos too soon, we’re probably still checking it.

bonus

DON’T send your demos to multiple email addresses within the label. I don’t want to listen to your track 4 times.

I hope you’ve learned something from this blog. I love listening to all of your music and I hope to see more (and better) demo emails in my inbox soon!